Umboo, tapping with his trunk on a certain place under a big tree.
"The roots are here, mother," he said. "But how am I going to get them
out? I can't eat them if they are under the dirt!"

"How would you think you might get them out?" asked Mrs. Stumptail.
"Come, be a smart elephant, Umboo. Use your brains. Elephants are the
smartest animals in the world. Think a little and then see what you
will do."

So Umboo thought, and then he remembered seeing what the other
elephants did when they were hungry, and wanted to dig up tree roots.

"I guess I'll poke away the dirt with my feet," he said.

"Yes, that's a good way to begin," said Mrs. Stumptail.

So Umboo, with his big, broad fore feet, loosened the dirt over the
tree roots. They were not down very deep, being the top roots, and not
the big heavy ones, buried far down in the earth.

"Ha! Now I can see the roots!" cried the little boy elephant. "They
are uncovered, but still I can't lift them up with my trunk, mother.
What shall I do next?"

"What are your tusks for?" asked Mrs. Stumptail. "Don't be so silly!
Pry up the roots with your tusks!"

So Umboo knelt down and put one of his big long teeth under a root.
Then with a twist of his head he pried the root up from the ground.